Christian echoes some of the sentiments I’ve seen regarding the large but not immense queues yesterday.
As long as you remember that people have been pre-ordering them for three weeks in the UK and heaps of them received their iPads via courier on Thursday and Friday, it’s not that surprising that the queues were not immense and that in many cases the stores did not sell out.
On Wednesday, MacBuddha had asked me which iPad I really wanted (I already have a 16 GB WiFi model):
and based on figures from an exit poll, I’m not alone.
You can see where the sweet spots are for technology purchases. The 32GB 3G model is, as I surprised, the perfect blend of technology for most people and the model people were more likely to choose after that was the 64GB 3G model. All in all, 74% of buyers chose the 3G model which has to mean that in the UK we consider 3G to have the best options (especially considering the cheap cost of some of the data plans. Three are out in front with a £7.50 pm plan and for an additional £2.50 you can get an O2 plan which includes the Cloud and BTOpenzone WiFi access. )
All in all, I think the iPad launch was a success for Apple by any measure and it will be interesting to hear/see what is announced next week by Steve Jobs. I reckon around 3 million of the devices will have been sold by the time the WWDC keynote comes around in just over a week.
On another note, having iPad Day UK mere days after Towel Day seems entirely appropriate. Don’t Panic.